Kill the Indian and save the man?

Jan McCutcheon
English 48B
Journal for Zitkala-Sa

Author Quote: “I prefer to their [Christian] dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan” (1132).

Internet Quote: “the first American Indian woman to write her story without aid of an editor, interpreter, or ethnographer, but she was a devoted social reformer unafraid of assuming unpopular positions. Her writing and activism were informed by social criticism and rebellion, conflicts between tradition and acculturation, between literature and politics, between American Indian spirituality and Christian religion, and other dilemmas, such as mother-daughter conflict and gendered family role expectations. With these themes and others, she tapped the potential of merging literary art and protest and thereby paved the way for contemporary activist and experimental writers to do the same.” -Roseanne Hoefel "Zitkala-Sa: A Biography”


Summary: In “The School Days of an Indian Girl,” Zitkala-Sa describes growing up with her mother, being convinced to go with missionaries to the east to be educated, and her experiences at school, then later as a teacher of other Indians. She describes the conflict between mother and daughter, Indian and white, and Native American religion and Christianity. In “The Soft-Hearted Sioux” she describes a young man returning to his home to find his dying father. He is saddened by his inability to provide food for his parents, and in desperation steals meat from a nearby ranch. When he returns home with the stolen food, it is too late and his parents are dead. In “Why I Am a Pagan” Zitkala-Sa tells why she would rather believe in the Great Spirit than the religion inflicted on her people by the missionaries.


Response: Zitkala-Sa stories show the loss of culture for Native Indians as whites attempted to “educate” them. The chilling quote “Kill the Indian and save the man!” sums up the school’s lack of understanding of the children they were trying to educate. The program destroyed all remnants of their previous life by cutting their hair, burning their clothes and forcing them to speak only English without consideration to the harm it would inflict on these children. Their attempts at saving these children was at the expense of ripping them away from their culture and families. This left children who could read and write but never be fully human or connected to the things that mattered to them.